October 14, 2010 12:15 AM

What a wonderful, emotional day!

Not for me, but for those 33 miners in Chile, their families and friends, the country of Chile, and the entire globe. To see God perform another miracle in such a fashion that it brought the entire world together to follow this most human of human interest stories. To have us all put aside our lives in order to focus on the plight of these men and their steadfast resolve to live and to return to us once again. Yes, they are forever changed but so are we and we are all so much better for it.

It appears to make my situation seem miniscule in comparison, But until these miners became trapped they literally lived undergraound lives of which most of us are unaware. That holds true for all those suffering from cancer as well as they seek treatment and only suffer from its side effects if they are fortunate. It is figuratively an underground world of activity that none of you should ever wish to be a part of. It will never capture the attention of the world as this incident because it is an individual story for each of us that we live out daily as we go about our daily lives.

But let me tell you the story of the man that I called on Sunday as part of my "First Connection" volunteer program. They are having problems controlling his red blood cell counts so they have told him that he is not allowed to do anything for the next NINE MONTHS. The seventy days that the miners spent underground is still 30 short of the 100 days of house arrest that each of us transplant recipients must undrgo. Is it easier? - Of course it is! But, we still don't know if we'll survive (there is a 5% death rate). Like the miners, we pray to accept God's will for us and hope for the best - always keeping a positive attitude and always striving to survive.

This may sound like it, but it is not sour grapes. For I have been truly moved by this marvelous story and seeing the joy on the faces of the miners, their families, and their rescuers is just overwhelming. The President of Chile seems like such a wonderful, compassionate man that it brought tears to my eyes. Well, I tried. I'm still niot so sure that I am able to make tears as yet.

Today, again, I have been asked to make a third "First Connection" telephone call. Many people never get asked - but I've been tapped three times in the past few weeks. I enjoy the opportunity to help where I can but being limited to empathizing and serving as a sounding board seems so superficial to me. Yet, it's all that we can do. I cannot offer advice - I'm no doctor nor am I familiar with their cases. I can only hope that God has me provide them with something to take away from our conversations.

I've gone on much too long...

Bob